Windows 8 Installation auto-restart

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I think this is the best place to solve my issue...

I'm having a problem installing Windows 8 64-bit in my Acer Aspire 5735. The hard drive is completely formatted. Meaning, there is no operating system to start the installation from it. I use a DVD to boot in Windows 8 Installation.

I turned on my laptop, inserted the DVD inside the drive and I selected the drive to boot from it. The loading screen appears and it responds well (I can see circles rolling). But when it starts the installation somewhere from language selection to product key validation, the laptop restarts unexpectedly without any message. It flashes in white like a camera flash and I hear a single click from the hard drive (which is weird because it has no problems and it runs well) and it boots again normally.

I had tried booting it using a USB flash drive but the problem still persists. This problem is not just in Windows 8, but also in other versions in Windows. I also tried removing external devices and reseating the necessary ones.

Is there anything I can do to solve this issue?

 

[CaedenV]

well... that stinks.

Try a Linux distro just to verify that it is a hardware issue and not a Windows issue... but most likely it is a hardware problem.

The click sound of the HDD does not mean that the HDD is at fault. Any time power is cut from a HDD then the head arm snaps back with a loud 'click' so that it does not crash into the platter and damage the drive itself. This is more likely a memory or power issue.

See if you can boot into the recovery tools on the install disc and try running Windows Memory Diagnostic. The default settings are typically good enough to find any major issues, but if you have time to leave it overnight there are some more strenuous tests that you can run. Alternatively you can also use memtestx86+ and let it run repeatedly for ~2-4 hours per GB of ram you have installed. My bet is that one of these tests will turn something up.

For a power issue there is not a whole lot you can check for. You can poke around and make sure that all of the connections are solid, but typically power problems are either not consistent (meaning random resets whenever it wants rather than when doing a particular activity), or end up damaging hardware where the machine will not post at all, so this is unlikely.

Keep us posted on your progress!

(oh, and just for fun, reset your BIOS. Most likely it will not do anything, but I have found it to be a good 'first try' fix when weird problems are happening)

 

[CaedenV]

well... that stinks.

Try a Linux distro just to verify that it is a hardware issue and not a Windows issue... but most likely it is a hardware problem.

The click sound of the HDD does not mean that the HDD is at fault. Any time power is cut from a HDD then the head arm snaps back with a loud 'click' so that it does not crash into the platter and damage the drive itself. This is more likely a memory or power issue.

See if you can boot into the recovery tools on the install disc and try running Windows Memory Diagnostic. The default settings are typically good enough to find any major issues, but if you have time to leave it overnight there are some more strenuous tests that you can run. Alternatively you can also use memtestx86+ and let it run repeatedly for ~2-4 hours per GB of ram you have installed. My bet is that one of these tests will turn something up.

For a power issue there is not a whole lot you can check for. You can poke around and make sure that all of the connections are solid, but typically power problems are either not consistent (meaning random resets whenever it wants rather than when doing a particular activity), or end up damaging hardware where the machine will not post at all, so this is unlikely.

Keep us posted on your progress!

(oh, and just for fun, reset your BIOS. Most likely it will not do anything, but I have found it to be a good 'first try' fix when weird problems are happening)

 

[Guest]

I tried using Windows System Repair and Recovery that I made using Windows 7 but its still the same. I can't get into memory diagnostics or any other options. I think Windows could really be the issue but, I haven't tried installing Linux with it. So I'll try installing Ubuntu 12.10 with it.